Some 4,500 crayfish were removed from Chadwick Lakes in the past two years and efforts are continuing to control the population of this species, Environment and Energy Minister Miriam Dalli said on Tuesday.

She was replying to a question in parliament by Nationalist MP Ian Vassallo.

Chadwick Lakes is administered by the Environment Authority, the Energy and Water Authority and Nature Trust. 

Efforts to remove invasive crayfish from Chadwick Lakes have been going on for years.

In 2017 Environmentalist Alan Deidun warned that the crayfish was “spreading like hell.” 

Deidun had explained that as a result of the intentional release of the species, which is popular with aquarium enthusiasts, the species, along with a number of other closely-related species, was present throughout the island.

Crayfish grow quickly, even in only seasonally present water and wreak havoc on freshwater species such as the painted frog and freshwater crab. 

But it was not all bad news, as the environmentalist said the red crayfish was popular “for consumption purposes”.